Lost and Found?

A number of “appearances” of the mysterious and now lost Book of Jashar have been recorded, the most famous of which is a literary forgery popularized by the Rosicrucians, an esoteric order and secret society that claims to have existed since the days of ancient Egypt. Most scholars, however, trace modern Rosicrucianism only to the 17th century. The Rosicrucians still publish the text of a book purporting to be the Book of Jashar.

In this version, the Book of Jashar is said to have been found by Alcuin, a church official and advisor to Charlemagne. Born in Anglo-Saxon Northumbria, Alcuin was an influential educator who served as master of the cathedral school at York and abbot of Tours. He died in 804. (A portrait of Alcuin, from a ninth-century illuminated Bible, appears above)

In the Rosicrucian edition of the Book of Jashar, Alcuin is elevated to Bishop of Canterbury.